Tokyo Ghoul
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Gore
Pupa
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Danganronpa: The Animation
Plot:
Sixteen high school students are trapped in a school (well, you never actually see the sixteenth till like the last 3 episodes so sixteen technically but well, take that for what its worth). The school is an elite academy called Hope’s Peak Academy though none of the students are quite sure how they got there as the story unfolds. The school is run by a sadistic bear named Monokuma who is a robot controlled by the mastermind behind the operation. Monokuma gives the students some basic rules:
They cannot leave the school.
To graduate they must successfully commit a murder that their peers cannot decipher who is the murderer at a school trial.
Should the murderer not be found, all other students will be killed.
As the murders ensue the students work to find out who is behind Monokuma and why they are there, along with what the real secrets of the school are.
Source:
Danganronpa: The Animation is based off a PSP game of the same title. While I have never played the PSP game I can tell the anime is very truthful to its source. There are moments in the show where the effects used are almost identical to what you’d expect to find in a game.
Animation:
The overall animation is average. However, during a “punishment” or execution after a class trial there is a change in animation which I felt really pulled the viewer out of the show. I believe these cutaways are reminiscent, if not identical, to the game but for someone who has not played the game they might add more than takeaway.
Review:
Danganronpa, rightfully, gets right into the action and people are dying right away. It sounds exciting but the formula, combined with the game elements that cheapened the drama. It was also difficult to relate to the over-the-top cast. While their antics were interesting they were so crazy that it was difficult to find a grounding with almost any character.
The story progresses up to a climax that ends up coming out of nowhere. One of the frustrating things is the inability to play ‘who done it’ along with the characters. The ending is much the same, it’s so crazy at a point that it cheapens everything overall.
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Blood the Last Vampire
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Shigurui
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Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Alternate Titles: None
Original Japanese Release Date: 2000
Episode Length/Run-time: 102 Minutes
Summary:
The Half-Human Half-Vampire Vampire Hunter who goes simply by ‘D’ is continuing his quest to fight against the vampire nobility that rules over a far-future post-apocalyptic world. Because of his reputation he is called upon by the Elbourne family to rescue their daughter, Charlotte, from the clutches of Meier Link. But D is not the only one on the hunt, and seperating Charlotte from her new love may prove more difficult than D originally expected.
Review:
A long awaited follow-up to the classic movie Vampire Hunter D, Bloodlust is a worthwhile addition to the family.
The Vampire Hunter D series is based on a series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi, this particular movie is based off the third book. Acclaimed artist Yoshitaka Amano’s wisdom is drawn from yet again to bring the pages of the novel to life on the screen and his dark style creates artistic poetry on the screen. Angular features, dark odd creatures, and towering spires adorn the movie in a distinct style that one has to see to believe.
Unlike the first movie the storytelling in Bloodlust does become slightly muddled. Which is not helped by the somewhat confusing and uncertain dialogue. The finale of the movie is also somewhat of a letdown, ruining the otherwise perfect pacing the film had all the way through.
Despite that the film has all the surprises, twists, action and pleasant oddities as the first film. It remains a worthwhile watch to be enjoyed more by adults than kids. This film, while not perfect, stands as a strong follow-up to a classic and should be on any anime fan’s must-watch list.
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Barefoot Gen
Alternate Titles: Hidashi no Gen
Original Japanese Release Date: 1983
Episode Length/Run-time: 83 minutes
Summary:
Gen lives with his mother, father, and little brother in Hiroshima 1945 =. It has been 3 years since the conflict with the U.S. began and the trials of the war have begun to take their toll on the country of Japan. Despite the scarcity of food and other necessities they work to make their lives happy and the best they can. However on the 6th of August 1945 everything changes with the dropping of the first atomic bomb in human history. Gen’s fight for survival begins in the tattered remains of what once was his normalcy.
Review:
Barefoot Gen began as a 10 volume manga running from 1983-1984. It was later produced into a feature film in 1983 with a sequel in 1986. There have also been a number of novels and live action movies and TV series paired with the series.
I think what makes this movie so impacting is it’s creator: Nakazawa. Nakazawa is a survivor of the atomic bombing himself and produced this manga to tell his story and the story of all those who lost their lives and who had to live through the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Knowing this the anime becomes all the more impacting. However, also knowing this you have to understand that the anime is being told from the experiences of a survivor who made it through but this is going to add a spin to his story.
The story doesn’t really begin until the bombing. While it starts the day before this acts as a set-up for everything which is to come. When the bombing happens gen is separated from his family and what ensues is a grotesque and historically accurate series of images. People’s flesh melt off, their eyes boil and pool from their eyes, their clothing burns away in an instant. Those that do survive are left as wandering corpses desperately thirsty for water and aid. The scenery changes in an instant to a hellish landscape where everything is destroyed. Gen navigates through this back to his family only to see his house ablaze. Only his mother escapes and they watch in horror as his little brother and father burn to death before their eyes. They attempt to sleep, but cannot rest, haunted by the screams of the injured throughout the city.
Gen’s mother, pregnant, gives birth to a baby girl prematurely. Since no midwife or doctor can be found Gen must attempt to aid in the delivery of the baby. The baby is delivered and now Gen must look after himself and his mother and newborn sister as the patriarch of the family.
This movie is one heartbreak after another. Just when things seem to be going good they crush you again. The overall hopelessness hangs over the viewer and character like a dense haze that cannot be lifted. What likely makes it even more unbearable is the fact that it is historically accurate on many levels.
That is not to say though the movie is perfect. Sometimes it does seem sensationalized. This anime is never uttered because of the fact that it just doesn’t stand up in production to other WWII anime such as grave of the fireflies and took significantly longer to see a DVD release. The music is lacking and the animation shows its age clearly.
That being said the content and commentary alone is enough to put it on anyone’s must-watch list. The overall message, despite the sorrow, is one of the perseverance and strength of the human spirit. Leaving the viewer on a hopeful note compared to other films and works. This sometimes is criticized for seeming unrealistic but in my opinion it is a powerful message to a good movie.
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Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (with Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai)
Alternate Titles: When they Cry,
Original Japanese Release Date: 2006 (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni), 2007 (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai)
Episode Length/Run-time: 26 episodes (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni), 24 episodes (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai)
Summary:
Maebara Keiichi moves out to a small backwoods town in the summer of 1983. He befriends his cute new classmates and settles into his life as a student, playing board games after class, and generally being a carefree kid. But he quickly discovers not all is right with this town and the people he’s met may not be who they seem to be. A series of deaths begins to sweep across the city but after a short period of time events seem to “reset” and continue again. The circumstances surrounding this town, and the deaths, remain in mystery.
Review:
This review is covering both the first (Higurashi no naku koro ni) and second (Higurashi no naku koro ni kai) seasons at once. The reason for this is while the first CAN stand alone it makes little to no sense by itself. The first season is setting up the characters, premise, and introducing the questions of what is going on and why things are happening. The second season is the “answers” to the first season. Where you see why the town is caught in this confusing loop and being continually restarted after the unfortunate events which occur. In other words, the second season is the story and the first season is the “set up.”
From here on, there may be some loose spoilers, as the review will be near impossible to go forward with without them. I recommend you stop here though if you have not seen this series stop here and just take my word for it, watch it.
… Still here? Okay, review time. So the simple explanation for what is happening in the village is that all the villagers are infected with a parasite that makes them go crazy should they leave the village, OR should the host parasite (which is within Rika Furude) be killed. The way the series begins to show this in the first season is through the subtle thing that every time she is killed, or someone leaves the village that’s when the crazy happens. This then justifies the random scenes when they’re all playing boardgames because it provides contrast. I love things like this, things you don’t notice unless you’re really keeping track. Rika has the power to move time though a local deity (and I won’t spoil more than that) so she is attempting to move through time in an effort to find a course of events where the village is saved.
Cool, right?
This series starts out good, and just becomes fantastic. It’s gory, surprising, disturbing and doesn’t hold anything back. It is so nice to finally see a series that is not only shocking and surprising but it doesn’t rest or rely on that plot device, there is more to it than that. If you watch this series you MUST watch both seasons. There’s no point in watching just the first season because you really then don’t even see the full story.
It well deserves a 5 and is one I recommend for anyone mature enough to handle it’s dark subject matter.
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Elfen Lied
Alternate Titles: None
Original Japanese Release Date: 2004
Episode Length/Run-time: 13 ( 25 mins ea.)
Summary:
The show revolves around the Diclonius, a dual-horned, mutated human-like species that is said to be “selected by God” and will cause the destruction of mankind. They have a “sixth sense”, providing them with telekinetic capabilities, and because of this they have been captured and isolated by the government into laboratories. Much to their dismay, Lucy, a young and insane Diclonius breaks free and violently murders most of the guards in the lab. During her escape, she gets shot in the head. Surviving the blow, she drifts off to a beach where Kouta and Yuka discover her. Having lost her memory, shes named after the only thing she can now say, “Nyuu”. The two allow her to stay at their house. However, one cannot say that “Lucy” is quite dead yet…
Review:
Warning, this show is not for the faint of heart or stomach! This anime is packed to the brim with gruesome violence and murder. The first 10 minutes of the series lets you see this, as its filled with brutal, violent killing and dismembering of most of the guards in the lab where the Diclonius’ are kept. Red blood sprays and exploding bodies are also characteristic of the anime. My response to Lucy’s extensive murder-spree in the beginning was nothing less than “Holy Shit!” I dont think I’ve ever seen such violence so early in a title. But wait, it gets better (or worse for those violence haters).
Then they introduce Nana, whos also a Diclonius. Shes about 14-15 years old. When shes introduced, shes stark naked, covered in blood, and chained to a wall. After that, we find out shes been experimented on. Sweet right? Shes sent out to find and kill the escaped Diclonius. She doesnt want to kill anyone initially anymore, but a compromise is made. However, she makes the mistake of confronting Lucy alone, which results in her being graphically dismembered from fingers to toes (literally). Now being considered useless, shes to be put to sleep, but is later released instead. Also, did I mention this show contains a lot of nudity? No? Well it does. ALOT of it. However, none of the nudity is of a sexual nature, except for a few backstory scenes.
Theres only so much that can be said about a 13 episode series before revealing too much of the plot line. So I’ll wrap it up. The animation and artwork is great, and the show is well paced. In between the extremely heated moments of violent-goodness are some moments of joy (just enough to keep you from losing your mind to the violence). Needless to say, this show will strip you of your innocence. Also, the setting is very scenic and beautiful as well, an additional touch that helps keep the show from being just pure violence.
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Higurashi – Live Action
Alternate Titles: None
Original Japanese Release Date: 2009
Episode Length/Run-time: 106 Minutes
Summary:
This live action film follows the beginning of the Higurashi storyline from the anime. The story is set in 1983 in a small town known as Hinamizawa. Keiihi Maebara moves in as the new person in town and quickly learns about the towns history and the mysterous murders that are occurring therein.
Review:
This live action film has some good things going for it but ultimately what causes it to be just a so-so film is that Higurashi is really difficult to adapt to live action. The setting of course was easy to adapt, mostly because the anime was actually set in a real life town and was modeled very closely after it. Of course, not surprising, the live action film takes place in the town as well. The part of the film that doesn’t adapt well are the characters. The characters largely are pretty poor representations of the characters in the anime. Some of the characters don’t even seem to be the same age as they would be in the anime. The psychotic moments were also very underwhelming. The crazy laughter and “uso!” moments were not very tense at all.
In terms of the story, I was both happy and dismayed with the amount of content the live action seeks to cover. It’s nice that the movie only handles the first four episodes of the anime because it covers them thoroughly, however, anybody who has watched Higurashi knows that the first season is practically fluff compared to the second season and even within the first season, four episodes just isn’t enough to really create much of a story at all. What you basically watch with this movie is an incomplete plotline. I can see how it would seem like a very bad film for those who know nothing of the anime.
That being said, I recommend this film to lovers of the Higurashi series. It will be an interesting watch at least. However, if you haven’t seen the anime, be prepared for some confusion and disappointment at the ending.
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